Question for people with drilled tanks.

[JamieC77]

Ok this is my 55. I had 4 holes drilled in the back of the tank for my wet/dry filter. The hole in the top left corner is just draining into the top of the w/d. Two of the holes in the center are for circulation and the other hole is sucking water in. I have never had a drilled tank b4 so my question is...what happens if the power goes off? Will your tank drain into your w/d and flood your house, or will the pumps stop the water? Thanks ahead of time, I'm kind of starting to panic.

 

[JamieC77]

bump

 

[irieeyed]

water should stop dumping into your w/d as soon as the water level gets below the level of your outlet back into your tank

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

but not if the pump outputs to the tank are below the water line. I would only set up a tank so the the outlet was above the waterline to prevent a backflow. I know on one of my systems even with the outlet 2 inches below the water line it will backflow until the level is bellow that two inches, but in my system that is not enough to overflow.

 

[JamieC77]

but not if the pump outputs to the tank are below the water line. I would only set up a tank so the the outlet was above the waterline to prevent a backflow. I know on one of my systems even with the outlet 2 inches below the water line it will backflow until the level is bellow that two inches, but in my system that is not enough to overflow.

So are you saying that the way my tank is set up is asking for problems? I started to wonder as I was setting it up that's why I stopped and took some pics and asked some questions.

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

well im not sure but from what I see I would think unless you have it setup with a syphon release of some kind im not sure how it wont overflow in the case of a power outage...maybe if you use a piston style pump but thats not very popular

 

[Fish Eat Fish]

heres a quick sketch of somthing that would stop an overflow

Hope that helps

Maybe im wrong and your fine but it seems like it will drain to me

 

[frnchjeep]

heres a quick sketch of somthing that would stop an overflow

Hope that helps

Maybe im wrong and your fine but it seems like it will drain to me

Well, you are right, but a hole there will shoot water at the ceiling. Remember, that tube is under pressure when the system is running. I don't have paint, so I can't show you. But, you would need to run that tube through the back of the tank via bulkhead, put a 90* elbow just off the bulkhead on the inside and run the tube straight up. Put something like this at the top.http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+10090+14680&pcatid=14680 You should have the u shape level with the surface of the water, or a little over. Drill a small hole in the BOTTOM of the U tube. That will break the syphon when the pump is shut off.

Also, you wont need the big u in the plumbing behind the tank, either. You will be able to just go up and in.

 

[David R]

So are you saying that the way my tank is set up is asking for problems?

It seems like it to me. I have two different overflow set ups, I prefer the later.
The first has a hole drilled in the top left corner of the back pannel. The pipe screws thru the glass and there is a strainer over the end of it so fish can't get sucked down the pipe (not that any of mine would fit down there...).
The second has a hole drilled in the bottom left corner of the back panel, and a diagonal piece of glass in the corner of the tank that the water cascades over like a waterfall.
Both are fool-proof as the only water that can go out of the hole is water the pump has pumped up to the tank. The only time it would flood during a power cut is if the sump is over-full and can't hold the volume of water that is above the overflow level, but that is very easy to avoid.

Hope that makes sense, but I'm not sure if it can help you since you've already drilled the tank in three places well below the water level.

 

[LiquidWare]

Here's what I did for my return from my pump ... Drilled a 1/4" hole in the cap angled 45° down. It act as an anti-syphon and also does a bit of aeration with the opening just 1/2" aver the water level.

You can check out my gallery to also see how I took care of the over-flows ...

Hope that helps